Darkness Within, Shadows Without
by KazraGirl
Summary: Something drives a woman to kill others in Arda. But what is she killing, and why?


Disclaimer - Tolkiens world is not mine. I only borrow it and return it when I have finished with it. Please do not sue.  
  
Authors Notes - *eyes story* Now, where did this one come from? Seriously, I just sat down at the keyboard, and out this came. Its slightly different from my usual stuff I think, so I'd appreciate any and all comments on it. Thank you!  
  
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Can you see the darkness within my soul? Can you see the reasons behind my actions? For if you do, I would that you tell me, for I do not know. All I know is that something drives me, drives me to do what I do. And I cannot resist its siren call.  
  
From the back of a black horse, the woman looked down at the cluster of burning houses at the foot of the hill on which her mount stood. Grey eyes stared impassively at the sickening blaze, ears deaf to the screams that arose from the torched buildings.  
  
Movement caught her eyes as she watched, before she unslung a bow from her shoulder and nocked an arrow to the string. As a winged figure spiraled up into the sky, tattered wings struggling to bear her aloft with a column of smoke, the woman took aim and fired.  
  
Her aim was true and the arrow thudded deep into the chest of the winged figure, who clutched it spasmodically, before dropping like a stone to the ground.  
  
The woman smiled grimly, before she turned her horse's head and urged him onwards. Her job here was done.  
  
Tasha lay back under the shade of the tall tree, methodically wiping blood from her sword blade while her black horse cropped the grass beside her. The birdsong in the trees was almost soothing, but Tasha's nerves were jangling from the adrenaline of the fight as she tried to calm herself.  
  
"Nerves will not serve you now." she whispered to herself.  
  
The horse snorted, head tossing upwards as a strange scent reached it and Tasha looked up, moving to her feet in one fluid motion, feet sliding apart to give her extra balance. Eyes scanned the undergrowth, and barely flinched as a scorched and sooty figure scrambled through.  
  
The girl, pinion hanging limply from her back gasped with relief as her staggering progress brought her to the feet of Tasha.  
  
"Thank God!" she cried. "Please, you must help me!"  
  
"Why?" Tasha asked coolly. "You don't belong here. And you would have saved yourself a lot of trouble by dying in the blaze."  
  
The winged girl gaped at Tasha's harsh words, before the meaning sank in and she turned to flee. But Tasha moved after her, one boot heel deliberately tramping down hard on the already broken wing.  
  
The girl screamed, aggravated by the fact that Tasha grabbed the honey blonde hair to pull the girls hair back.  
  
"Now I suggest that you do as I intended, and die." and with a cool motion, Tasha slashed the dagger across the throat of the girl, neatly severing the jugular and sending blood spurting all over the clearing.  
  
Dropping the dying body of the girl, Tasha moved over once more and picked up the cloth she had been using and continued to wipe the blood off the blade.  
  
"I think that we should move on shortly." she noted to the air. "I have an appointment with an elf in Mirkwood shortly."  
  
And leaving the corpse of the winged girl to lie in an ever increasing puddle of blood, Tasha saddled her horse once more and set out, dagger hitting home in its sheath.  
  
Mirkwood was dark and forbidding, but Tasha rode on serenely, fearing nothing that lurked in the shadows. Death would be a release for her, and she did not fear it. But she would not seek it out yet.  
  
The path meandered through the trees, and Tasha kept her horse to a steady pace, one hand absently loosening her sword in its scabbard.  
  
Black hair flared as Tasha twisted her head violently to one side as the sound of singing came to her ears. "Sounds like the one that I seek." she muttered, before dismounting lithely and tying the branches of her horse to a branch with a quick release knot, swiftly unhooking the weapons that she thought that she might need.  
  
As Tasha moved with a sinuous grace into the trees, the singing got louder, providing a perfect trace for the huntress.  
  
Ahead of her, the trees thinned, lightening to create an improbable clearing. A waterfall cascaded down from rocks at the far end, streaming into a small pool, currently occupied with one naked, singing, elven woman.  
  
Tasha rolled her eyes, lurking in a clump of bushes and taking careful aim with her bow. If she could just judge the shot correctly.  
  
The bowstring gave off a deep twang as the arrow sped straight and true, slamming into the back of the woman, who gasped at the impact. Tasha was out of the bushes in a flash, axe pulled from her belt, before being lofted high into the air and being brought down again.  
  
The water in the pool was running red with blood as Tasha finished cleaning herself and the weapons, occasionally looking at the woman in the pool as she floated, face down. The creatures of the forest would soon dispose of the corpse.  
  
Tasha rose, flicking hair out of her eyes as she gathered her weapons back together.  
  
"And another falls because they have disrupted the laws." she murmured as she made her way back through the trees. "I am watching."  
  
Behind her, the pool wavered and shimmered, before it disappeared, forming once more into the expected dark patch of woodlands.  
  
And the two people that were fated by the ill turned stroke of a pen to disturb the symmetry of the fellowship met their end at the hands of the Huntress. 


End file.
